To mark the impending 2011 visit to Australia of Queen Elizabeth II one of the many Royal Tour films from the Film Australia Collection. The Queen Returns. Made by The Commonwealth Film Unit 1963. In February 1963, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh returned to Australia for the Jubilee Year of Canberra. The film follows them on their 9,000 mile tour and shows the beauty and variety of the Australian scene, and thriving development ranging from hydroelectric schemes to universities. The Queen's Australian tour in early 1963 provides the medium for three neatly blended films illustrating the tour itself, a history of Canberra and an introduction to Australia and its people at work and play. The main features of the tour are depicted in some detail, while in the section dealing with the history of Canberra the highlights in the development of this city are portrayed in film flashbacks. The final sections show Australians at work. Produced by Stanley Hawes and Frank Bagnall.More from the NFSA online collection http://www.nfsa.gov.au/olcmedia/image... The Queen in 1954.

On the morning of Wednesday 12 March 1913, 500 invited guests, over 700 mounted and artillery troops and a public crowd of over 3000 locals came to witness the formal naming of Canberra. Foundation stones were laid by Governor-General Lord Thomas Denman, Prime Minister Andrew Fisher and the Minister for Home Affairs, King O'Malley. The national anthem was played and Lady Gertrude Denman announced the chosen name for the new-born federal capital. And so Canberra's life officially began.

...coming down from the Molongo River...

The recently completed digital restoration of the film highlights beautiful, clear images of finely dressed guests in Model T Fords, wagons, buggies and bicycles coming down from the Molonglo River to watch the ceremony. We see the grandstand erected for the official guests just below Capital Hill, facing north-east across the valley to Mt Ainslie; Lady Denman, elegant in an ostrich-plumed hat and pearls greeting guests; and the troops from the Australian Field Artillery, Light Horse and New South Wales Lancers.

A Ceremony in Honour of The Australian Light Horsemen at The Battle of Semakh. Marking the 94th Anniversary of the battle of Semakh on 25 September 1918 and its capture by Regiments of The Australian Light Horse. This was one of th elast cavalry charges in history

Closing his address to a special dinner celebrating Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee, the Hon. Michael Kiby AC CMG reminded those present of ACM's winning formulae.

"We had to make sure that it didn't look too much like a conservative club. That it wasn't a Liberal Party old boys. That there were people in it who had been members of the Labor Party, or who were supporters of the Labor Party," he said.

"There were people who were in it who were old and had twin setted pearls and there were people in it, who like this audience tonight, are young," he continued.

"There were women and men, there were leading Aboriginals, there were gays and there were others. Everyone. The whole point of The Crown is everyone."

"It is important that if The Crown is to survive it remains there for everyone as symbol that everyone can accept."

Mr. Kirby then shared some amusing anecdotes about the early days of ACM.